Chinese trade data misses and export and import growth slows

Chinese trade data produced a rare miss in July with annual
growth in exports and imports both undershooting expectations.

According to China’s General Administration of Customs, exports
grew by 7.2% year-on-year in US dollar denominated terms, missing
forecasts for an increase of 10.9%.

That was also below the 11.3% increase previously reported in
June.

Business Insider Australia

On the other side of the ledger, imports rose by 11% from a year
earlier in USD-terms, again undershooting forecasts for growth of
16.6%.

They previously grew by 17.2% year-on-year in June.

In volume terms, imports of crude oil, iron ore and coal all fell
from the levels reported in June.

Crude oil imports stood at 34.66 million tonnes, down from 36.11
million tonnes a month earlier, while imports of iron ore slipped
to 85.74 million tonnes from 94.7 million tonnes in June.

Coal imports also dipped to 19.46 million tonnes, a four-month
low.

In the first seven months of the year, imports of crude, iron ore
and coal grew by 13.6%, 7.5% and 18.2% respectively from the same
period a year earlier.

In the 12 months to July this year, the Chinese yuan weakened by
1.4% against the US dollar, suggesting that the growth in exports
and imports was largely driven by strengthening demand both from
within China and abroad, rather than movements in currency
markets.

In yuan-denominated terms, Customs said exports grew by 11.2%
year-on-year. Import growth was even stronger, lifting 14.7% over
the same period.

The wash-up from the movements in exports and imports was that
the national trade surplus swelled to $46.74 billion, above the
$42.77 billion level of June and forecasts for a smaller increase
to $46.08 billion.

China’s trade surplus with the United States stood at $25.2
billion, down marginally on the $25.4 billion level of June.

There has been no significant reaction in stocks, commodity
futures, bonds or currencies in Asia to the release of the trade
report.